


The Mystery of the Murdered Fish

by magicsophicorn



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-03
Updated: 2016-09-03
Packaged: 2018-08-12 16:48:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7941811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicsophicorn/pseuds/magicsophicorn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone has killed Henry's fish, and he's not going to let his moms out of the room until one of them owns up.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Mystery of the Murdered Fish

**Author's Note:**

> Written for Red Swan Queen Week Day 4 - Trapped Together

The sound of the lock clicking over echoed around the silent room.

Henry removed the key from the door, placing it in his pocket, and turned around to face the room's occupants.

"I have gathered you all here today because a heinous crime has been committed," he said sombrely, looking at each of his moms in turn.

He observed them carefully. Ma was trying not to laugh, Mom was frowning, and Mam had her head tilted to the side like a curious puppy. None of them looked particularly guilty, so he would have to proceed with his investigations.

"As you are aware, on Friday September 2nd, at precisely 1600 hours I discovered the bodies of Nemo and Flounder."

Henry paced around the table where his moms sat, hands held behind his back like he'd seen the cops do on CSI.

"At first I had assumed this was an act of god, two fish cruelly cut down in their prime by mother nature, but then… then I found this!"

With a flourish Henry produced the offending item from his other pocket and slammed it down in the centre of the table.

All other eyes in the room were fixed on the object, but Henry still couldn't tell anything from anyone's faces.

"When I left for school that morning this wasn't in the tank, but when I got home it was. Which means _someone_ put it in there, and _someone_ must not have sterilised it before doing so and _that's_ why my fish died! So who was it? We're not leaving this room until the culprit owns up!"

By the time he finished his speech Henry was breathing heavily, he might have got a bit carried away by the moment.

There was a minute or so of silence then all three women started talking at once.

Henry held up his palm and waited for them to stop. It took a little while.

"One at a time please. Mam?"

"Well it obviously wasn't me, why would I put a Snow White figurine in the fish tank? Clearly it was one of those two!" Ruby said indignantly.

Henry narrowed his eyes at her and really wished he had inherited Emma's lie detector. She did make a valid point though.

"Mom?"

Regina looked down at her hands as she replied.

"Whilst I do find the choice of figurine amusing, I would never be so irresponsible as to introduce an unsterilized decoration to the tank, and therefore I'm a little insulted to be considered a suspect in your investigation."

Henry wasn't sure what to think. Her words seemed believable but her behaviour seemed suspicious. Perhaps hearing what Emma had to say would help him come to a conclusion.

"Ma?"

"This is ridiculous. How do we know you didn't put it in there yourself and you're just trying to blame one of us because you know you won't be allowed a dog if you couldn't take care of the fish, hmm?"

"Emma!" Mom said, sounding horrified, "did you tell him he could get a dog if he looked after the fish?"

"Umm… maybe?" Ma said sheepishly.

Henry sat down in an unoccupied chair and watched the argument unfold, hoping one of them would let slip something which revealed their guilt.

_"We can't get a dog!"_

_"Well we already have a wolf…"_

_"Be careful where you go with that…"_

_"I'm just saying…"_

After ten minutes or so the argument died down, and Henry was pretty sure he wasn't ever getting a dog. However he still had no idea who had killed his fish. He'd narrowed it down to Ma or Mom. Mom was more likely to have wanted to put a Snow White figurine in a fish tank, but Ma was way more likely to have forgotten to sterilise it.

"I meant what I said, we're not leaving here until I know who did it."

All three of his moms huffed and folded their arms in unison and Henry struggled not to laugh at that. He had to seem intimidating. That was how interrogations worked, right?

"You do know we're bigger than you right?" Ma said, "and we're witches and a werewolf. You're not even buff, kid."

Henry didn't even bother to answer. He knew his Mom would never let Ma manhandle him, and he also knew that he had a lot more patience than both Ma and Mam put together. The only one who might be able to beat him at this game was Mom.

The second ticked by into minutes, and just when he was starting to give up hope of ever getting his dinner tonight, the culprit cracked.

"Alright fine! It was me okay?" Ma moaned, hiding her face in her hands. "I thought it would be funny to have Snow in with the fishes but I totally forgot that stuff needs to be sterilised before it can go in the tank. I'm sorry Henry."

Henry shook his head sadly.

"Why didn't you just tell me?"

There was a pause in which Ma stabbed at the tabletop with her finger and pulled a face as if she'd just smelled something bad.

"Because you all think I'm irresponsible already and I didn't want you to be right," she mumbled.

Mom reached across the table and took Ma's hand, Mam did the same and held her other hand.

"We don't think you're irresponsible," Mom said softly. Ma looked up at her with tears in her eyes.

"You don't?"

"Not even a little bit," Mam said.

Henry kind of did a little bit, but it was one of the things he liked best about her. He knew better than to say that though.

"I'm really sorry I killed your fish Henry," Ma sniffed.

"That's okay, I forgive you. But before I let us all of out here, I know you said I couldn't have a dog, but… what about a ferrett?"


End file.
